Anbu Days
by Tye Taylors
Summary: This fiction revolves around a squad of Anbu. Most Anbu have been decomissioned due to the time of peace.   This is after the current ordeals in the series and Naruto is the 6th Hokage. I had trouble rating this, if anyone could help...
1. Chapter 1

It was a slow day in the Leaf Village, as it always was with the current state of peace. Only rarely, ninjas were deployed for anything outside of Leaf territory. There is always a conflict in a land, no matter how much of an illusion of peace there is. Secret teams work behind the scenes, they are the elite, they are Anbu. In the shadows the Anbu gaze through the illusion of peace. Few squads of the elite Anbu remain in service, we follow one as they serve for the people away from public view. This squad was hand picked by the 6th Hokage, each of a different background and skill. They are one of three teams still in service.

Astor was sleeping-in as usual, as there wasn't much for him to get up for these days. There was a knock at the door, the sleeping lump stirred. Finally, Astor raised from his bed and casually rustled his long dull-silver bangs out of his face. "Be there in a minute!" he called to the person at his door. Astor slipped on his khaki cargo jeans over his boxers and pulled his skin tight long-sleeve over his head. As his eyes began to adjust, he noticed his armor on the floor mere feet from his bed. The man leaned over and picked it up, it slid over his torso smoothly, as it always did. The knocking occurred again, "One more minute!" he was beginning to be agitated. The place was a mess, it was hard to find anything. As he turned, Astor's face caught a flash in his eyes. The ninja moved towards the source: his war-torn Leaf headband, it still shined like new on the strap to his katana sheath. Once his blade was slung over his head, it was only a few steps to the door of his two room apartment. Astor unlocked the door and turned the doorknob to meet his visitor.

The face of the woman that Astor had known for years stared at him as he opened his door, her outfit was comprised of the normal Anbu battledress. "Hey Leena, what's up?" her full brown eyes turned to meet Astor's. "Well, we have to meet the Hokage...business" the soft voice was rarely ever heard, especially to strangers. The male nodded and followed. As the two progressed, thoughts tormented his head. _She looks nice today, her cute dirty blonde hair flows down past her shoulders. She's nice yet, it's that one thing..."not professional" everything was going great until she told me that, sure it might not have been appropriate but it was meant to be... _The crowded streets made it hard to tail the slightly shorter girl. _It's not that she is especially beautiful, I could do better...but that's the thing, she was so different, who people see and who me and Damond see. _The Hokage's spire loomed overhead, time had passed way to fast. After checking-in with the guard, the duo ascended to the top where the Hokage's room was. Leena knocked at the door and opened it to see two familiar figures in the room.

Naruto Uzumaki stood behind his desk at the other end of the room, his orange and black robe mirrored that of his father's. The room was oddly plain, with pale beige walls, and a faded tile floor. The other man in the room: Damond, turned to meet them. Damond wasn't an easy fellow to forget, he was just shy of seven foot and had a very muscular build. On top of that, he had short ruffled yet spiky hair and a long scar that was put at a forty-five degree angle and went across his right cheek. "Hello Damond...Lord Hokage" once again Leena's soft voice stirred. "Ey, Leena" he nodded to her "Astor" his tonfa was on his belt with the blade gleaming in the light. "Serious time now everyone" the Hokage announced "I would just like to remind you, keep a low profile...as always. You are, need I remind you, a "disbanded" organization. Take minor tasks for now, civilian missions, let no one know you are Anbu." with that he exited the room to leave them with their thoughts. "So wanna go check the board?" Damond asked rhetorically. Leena and Astor nodded almost in sync and the posse went down to the main lobby to check the mission board.

The board was filled with multiple requests, very few of which needed any ninja skill to accomplish. "So which one?" Damond asked in an arrogant tone. "Lets go with the usual way..." Astor sighed as he spoke. The giant lumbered back a few feet from the board, closed his eyes, and threw a kunai at the board. The knife went through a flier for a lost cat, "D-rank, what a waste of my time" Astor mumbled. "Come on guys, her name is Tora, lets go find her..." Leena spoke smoothly, trying to distract them from how boring the mission actually was. Little did they know, this little job was going to become the beginning of a large ordeal.

The streets were crowded, but eventually the crew got to the gates of the Leaf. "The flier said that Tora was last seen near the outskirts of the Land of Fire" Leena informed the boys "I'll race you out there, and I'll wait there when I win" the girl declared coaxingly. "Hold up for a second" Astor ordered as he put his radio earpiece in. "All earpieces in...now!" Leena and Damond pushed in their radios. "Who died and put you in charge?" Damond asked jokingly. "No one to my knowledge" Astor answered "And now were off..." By the time Damond and Astor turned Leena was already in the upper branches of the giant looming trees overhead. Astor and Damond focused chakra in their feet and ran up to the top of the trees. Once they were there they took off bouncing from limb to limb towards the Fire-Rain country border.

Leena was definitely in the lead, and it wasn't just the lead she started with. Leena was fast, faster than both the guys. Astor and Damond where a while back, tree-hopping together. "So, how have things been between you and her?" Damond asked with an almost blank look on his face. Astor looked over "Who?" Astor was almost blushing, Damond smirked at him. "Fine, she said that it wasn't right, with us being squad-mates." Damond stopped, "Ey, Astor you know she _is_ right?" Astor stopped slightly more ahead and turned away from Damond. "I know" he sighed while he spoke. Damond came up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, believe me, this is gonna fix itself." With that, Astor nodded and lurched back up into the tree tops with Damond close behind.

A buzz came through on the radio and Leena's voice came behind it, "I'm in a clearing, a few klicks west of your position, I've spotted the target." Astor looked back at Damond, who nodded acknowledging that he heard. The duo turned in a western direction, "Okay, Leena we'll be right there." After a few minutes they reached the clearing, an extremely high wall divided it. As the two men gazed around the clearing they noticed the feline striding the top of the wall. Damond raised his hand to point at Tora, "So why haven't you gotten him yet?" the large oaf questioned. Leena strode over and flicked Damond on the ear, "This is the nation dividing wall, if Tora gets startled and jumps the wall, this mission turns into an international affair!" The cat began to take a pouncing formation, with one giant leap it was gone from view.

"Well, Shit" Damond was the only one that could bring himself to say anything. The group of ninja casually strolled over to the wall and gazed up at it. The wall was massive, easily twice as tall as Damond and comprised of fine stone. "What do we do now?" Damond was still the only one to break the silence. Astor frowned, "Report back to the Hokage, it isn't within mission parameters anymore..." Damond was beginning to lose his temper, just as he always does, "No, I came all this way for an frickin cat! WE ARE GETTING THAT THING BACK!" Damond used taijutsu and quickly shifted to the top of the wall. Leena quickly followed without a word. _This doesn't feel right, I know we are gonna get drilled for this when we get back..._ "Fine" Astor focused chakra and sprinted up the wall. The three ninja balanced there feet on the semi-narrow wall edge, "You guys ready?" Leena dropped down onto Land of Rain territory on the other side of the wall.

The team looked around for their allusive cat, the forest was darker and had slightly more of a chill than the Land of Fire's forest. As the squad began to fan out they spotted Tora slipping away into a tower like structure with a large guard wall. They quickly and effectively moved through the "castle" just to find no one home and Tora in the center courtyard. "Got em!" Damond swiftly moved and seized the cat, it tried to scratch him but was no match for his armor plates. "Great job, not as if grabbing a cat was that hard though" Leena mocked. The troop had Tora calmed and she was leashed to Leena's belt. Finally, they had made it back out of the castle but to their surprise they were greeted. "So, Leaf ninja in this restricted Land of Rain area, sorry but we can't let you leave..." the shady figure motioned to his posse. "And we can't let you tell that we were here, you see?...this is where we reach an impasse" Astor mentioned confidently as rain began to trickle from the sky onto their new found battleground.


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, then I guess it's a fight then?" Astor rhetorically asked. Damond drew his tonfa from his belt and Astor unsheathed his katana. Leena however, pulled a scroll from her pants pocket, the seal on the paper summoned a steel longbow and a quiver. The group of about eight men all drew various bladed weapons. The man that had previously spoken had an extremely large rectangular cleaver-like sword, which he had drawn from his back. Damond clicked the button on the grip of his tonfa, the bladed portion turned so that it was facing the front. Damond performed a series of one handed seals, "Lightning Buster Jutsu!" Damond yelled, the steel blade began to condense a current of chakra electricity, a large blue ball burst from the end of the blade. The blue sphere was headed straight for the mob of enemies, only the fast ones survived. Half the horde laid singed and dead on the ground, the others rushed the Anbu. A man with a scythe swung forcefully down on Damond, his tonfa clicked back into its original formation and blocked the scythe just before it struck his forearm. The scythe blade slid off the tonfa and made a small slice on Damond's upper arm. Damond pushed up and out to snap the scythe from it's staff, the man was now unarmed and was pushed down to the ground by the giant.

Leena wasn't left out of the action, two men rushed her with blades swinging. The first man swung, yet was blocked by the steel bow. The second one had blinding speed, with a swift move the ninja was behind Leena with a blade through her back. Astor smirked, there was a poof of smoke and a log was now in the place of the woman, due to substitution jutsu. Leena was now in a nearby tree, the cat that had been leashed to her was now dazed from the sudden scenery change, she nocked two arrows on her bowstring and sent them soaring through the chests of the two men. After that, she returned to the site of the massacre to find Astor taking on the leader and a thug, as well as Damond holding a man to the ground. The large steel bow faded away and the scroll was now hung lightly on Leena's belt. She chose not to interfere, last time Astor didn't take to lightly not getting to have any fun.

The sprinkling rain had turned into a pouring storm in the time since the slaughter had begun. The two men drew closer as they made slow circles around Astor. Every so often one of them would make a lunge at the Anbu Op, though they were always quickly deflected. Finally, Astor made an offensive move, he stepped towards the thug and made a swing. The blades collided and there was multiple clangs of steel hitting steel. At this point, the leader of the dead posse was just standing and watching Astor hack at his man. With one final push the swords clashed, but didn't deflect they were pushing together in a lock. Damond chuckled as soon as this had happened, he drew a dagger from his sleeve and slit his captive's throat. Damond placed his dagger back up his sleeve, hung his tonfa from it's belt clip, and stood up to watch the action. The laugh was due to the fact that he knew as well as Leena, that once a lock happens, Astor had won. In a moment's time Astor had shifted to the side, elbowed the fellow in the head, and pushed the enemy's sword to the ground. Astor's blade was now down hovering only inches above the downed man's chest, in one move the blade pierced his skin and he had stopped breathing. There were now only two: Astor and the leader, not that anyone else mattered from the start. The hard rain fell down onto the bodies of the thugs, the scattered puddles of water all became pools of crimson red and an omen of what was to come.

"Bravo, I didn't expect my men to last...they weren't like you and me, they were just common mercenaries." The man stated calmly. "I see, so are you ready to fight for your life?" Astor asked mockingly. There was no response, only a long sting of hand signs. The rain stopped falling and began to form a spiraling torrent, upon more time it formed a dragon. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu" The serpent went straight for Astor, it was as if it were going to go straight through him. The Anbu held his ground, "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb", flames erupted from Astor's mouth and formed an equally massive dragon. The two dragons collided and formed a massive cloud of steam. By the time it had cleared, the rain rain ninja was gone. The rain had finally screeched to stop, the sky was now just a hazy shade of gray. "Well what now?" Damond asked, but no one answered, the air was _dead_ silent.

The squad stood dazed for a few moments, the reality of the situation was beginning to set in. "So, over this stupid cat this has become an international affair?" Leena asked, her voice was much less fragile than it usually was. The cat began to rub it's head on Leena's leg, as if asking for forgiveness. "Yes, and it's all my fault" Astor replied as he looked up to the cloudy sky. "No it's not, none of us should have let him out of our sight." Leena came up from behind him and gently took his hand. "Come on it was his fault, who made the st-" Damond trailed off, he stopped as he caught a death stare from Leena. Astor slipped his hand from hers and took a few steps forward, the hurt girl sighed at this. "Now, we go back to the village and tell the Hokage what went on..." With that Astor sprung up into the treetops and began leaping from branch to branch, with his team close behind.

Thoughts were soaring through Astor's head at a million miles a second. _Does this mean war? We slaughtered their men, was it right?_ Never before had Astor questioned himself on a matter of killing, he was an Anbu, it was in his nature. _At the time we were just fighting because they threatened us, then it turned into something more. Did I kill for the sake of killing...is that even right? _The team continued bounding through the trees, they were almost to the Leaf-Rain border. Tora began to grow restless as Leena held it in her arms. Astor quickly looked back to see if everything was all right. _I wasn't honorable, I can definitely say that. We couldn't let anyone know we had been there, it would have risked national security._ Astor finally came to a conclusion, they had killed for the village, but in a bad sense. Though the deed had been done dishonorably, it had been done for the Leaf. The burden was gone, cast to the shadows, never to bother Astor again.

Finally, the troop had reached the wall at which their troubles had begun. With a few quick leaps each of them were over the wall. As the trio continued to tree-hop, the wall in the background started to fade from view. Astor stopped for a moment, followed by his squad, and took one good last look at the wall. "Hopefully this is the last time I see this damned thing" Astor mumbled under his breath. "Everything all right?" Damond asked, looking a little worried. "No" Astor spoke for the first time in a while. "Far from it..." he was mumbling again as he turned back toward Leena, Damond, and the Leaf Village.

After that little sidetrack, the squad realized time was of the essence. For all they knew the mysterious Rain ninja could have already alerted his leader. The Anbu drew closer and closer to the village and finally they made it. They split up, with Damond delivering Tora and Leena and Astor briefing the Hokage. The two Anbu sprung from rooftop to rooftop to get to the Hokage as fast as possible. "Hey, are you gonna pout all day or bring yourself to talk to lord Hokage?" Leena poked at Astor's emotions. "I'm a big boy, I think I can handle myself" Astor mumbled back. The Hokage's spire grew larger and larger as the duo approached. _This isn't a big deal, we can probably solve this all without violence. _Astor was sidetracked by his thoughts, instantly to be re-connected with reality due to a small scream.

Astor woke out of his daze in an instant, he quickly darted his eyes around to see what was going on. It was Leena that had made the yelp, she had missed the last landing and was slipping off the edge. Astor had quick reflexes and darted over as she began to lose balance. Astor's hand caught hers and pulled her back up onto the solid ground. "Try not to do that." Astor playfully suggested. "Thanks, and that would be good" Leena was embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her neck. "After you" Astor motioned, as his classy attitude surfaced. The ninja bounded across rooftops until the Hokage Spire loomed overhead. With one final jump, each of the Anbu were now on the sill of the Hokage's window. Naruto Uzumaki was sitting in his desk, with his back to the window. Leena smirked at Astor and mouthed to him "It'll be fine." Astor knocked on the window and the Hokage turned his head towards them.

Naruto opened the window and let the Anbu into his chamber. "Is there a problem?" Naruto motioned the Anbu to the other side of his desk as he took a seat. Astor quickly briefed the Hokage on all of the events that happened in the Rain Village. "So what you are telling me is that you, the elite squad of Anbu, had a Rain ninja get away after you fought and killed his battalion?" Naruto was almost yelling. The stressed man took a deep breath, his aura became much more relaxed. "Get ready for a fight, because I fear we have a storm coming..." they all wished the Hokage was joking, but his solemn voice chilled the air.

The duo left the Hokage with his thoughts, as they exited out the door a large figure came down the hall. "How did he take it?" Damond stepped between Leena and Astor and put his arms around them. "Fine" Astor and Leena pushed the arms off of them and spoke in unison. "Lord Hokage wants us to go home and get ready for a fight..." Astor spoke up to the giant. The procession moved down a few flights of stairs and was now in front of the Hokage Spire. "Well then I'll meet you guys later in the center of the village.

Astor smiled at Leena and she grinned back. Astor turned and began his stroll back to his apartment. After a few minutes the Anbu reached his destination, he casually unlocked his door. The lights clicked on in Astor's room, he strode over and picked up his one-strapped backpack. The pack was loaded to the brim with rations and various ninja tools. _Only one thing left. _Astor stepped over to the wardrobe in the corner. _It's one thing to be ready but, this is something that I have to face. _Inside the wardrobe was a box, under lock and key. Astor drew the key from his pocket and unlocked the box. The small dusty box creaked open, inside laid a mask. Astor took it and placed the box back on the shelf. In his hand, Astor held his worn-out Anbu mask of the fennel fox.


End file.
